Renewing America

In the first installment of the Renewing America Progress Report and Scorecards, "Road to Nowhere: Federal Transportation Infrastructure Policy" provides a critical assessment of federal transportation policy, including background on major policy initiatives and analysis of what's needed to start moving forward.

Finance ministers from fifty-seven countries met in Beijing in October 2014 and signed a memorandum to establish the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), which will focus on funding infrastructure to boost economic development in the Asia Pacific region. The Articles of Agreement were opened for signature on June 29, 2015 and must be ratifed domestically by December 31, 2016. The AIIB was inaugurated on January 16, 2016 with the first board of directors meeting and began accepting investment projects.

The United States and China have developed competing visions for reviving ancient trade routes connecting Asia and Europe. The U.S. diplomatic strategy focuses on Afghanistan, while China hopes to economically integrate Central and South Asia. India and Russia also have regional ambitions.

Nicaragua’s proposed Grand Canal would be one of the world’s largest engineering projects. Its proponents say it could transform the country’s economy, while critics say it could be an environmental catastrophe.

The China-backed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank seeks to address a critical infrastructure gap in the region, but it is also a challenge to the existing global economic order, says CFR's Robert Kahn.

Renewing America

To advise state and local government on how best to use private investment and build more critical infrastructure in a cost-effective way, Heidi Crebo-Rediker recommends the federal government create a new advisory unit within the Treasury Department called "Infrastructure USA."

The U.S. Government Accountability Office released report 14-299 to congressional requesters in March 2014. The report discusses "(1) current commercial maritime activity in the U.S. Arctic and anticipated activity in the next 10 years, (2) actions taken by government entities in support of planning and developing U.S. Arctic maritime infrastructure, and (3) federal interagency efforts to identify and prioritize Arctic maritime-infrastructure investments."

International development has moved beyond charity. Gone are the days when the United States would just spend its seemingly bottomless largess to help less fortunate or vanquished countries, as it did after World War II.

Richard N. Haass discusses his new book, Foreign Policy Begins at Home, in which he puts forward a new foreign policy doctrine of Restoration, where the United States limits its engagement in wars of choice and humanitarian interventions abroad, and focuses on restoring the foundations of its power at home.